Publishing and Disseminating Dalit Literature
An international AHRC funded conference
hosted by the English Department and the Centre for Dalit Studies
at Delhi University, India
convened by Judith Misrahi-Barak and Nicole Thiara,
in collaboration with Tapan Basu, Raj Kumar and Sumanyu Satpathy
under the aegis of the Centre for Postcolonial Studies at Nottingham Trent University, UK
in partnership with EMMA at the Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, France
17-19 December 2015
Thursday 17 December
9.30-10.30 Registration
10.30 -11.00 Opening of the conference
11.00-12.30 Panel 1: The Emergence and Dissemination of Punjabi Dalit Literature
Chair and academic: Rajkumar Hans, Professor of History, MSU, Baroda
Writers: Des Raj Kali and Balbir Madhopuri
Translator and academic: Neeti Singh: Assistant Professor of English, MSU, Baroda
Writer and publisher: Bhagwant Rasulpuri
12.30-13.30 Individual Papers 1: Publishing Gujarati Dalit Literature
Chair: Nicole Thiara
Santosh Dash, Savli, Gujarat, India
Dalit Writing in Gujarat: Some Reflections on a Publishing Present
Gopika Jedeja, National University of Singapore, South Asian Studies Programme
We are with your democracy, but...: The Politics and Location of Dalit literature in Gujarati
publishing
13.30-14.30 Buffet Lunch
14.30-16.00 Panel 2: The Subaltern Voice, or Publishing from the Margins
Chair and publisher: Urvashi Butalia (Zubaan Publishing)
Artist: Radhaben Garwa
Publishers: Ruby Hembrom (Adivaani, Kolkata) and Arpita Das (Yoda Press)
Publisher/newspaper: Kavita, from the all women newspaper Khabar Lahariya
16.00-16.30 Tea and Coffee
16.30-17.30 Individual Papers 2: Disseminating Women’s Writing and Dalit Feminism
Chair: Padmini Mongia
Shashikumar J., Ph.D Scholar, School of Translation Studies and Training, Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India
Publishing Dalit Feminist / Womanist Writings: An afterlife of/for the Twice-Dead?
Kalpna Verma, PhD Scholar, Hindi Translation, Center for Indian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, Delhi, India
Writing, Translation and Dissemination: A Glimpse of Dalit Women Writings
Friday 18 December
9.00-9.30 Registration
9.30-11.00 Panel 3: Bangla Dalit Literature I - Gendering Dalit Literature in Bengal: Questions of
Marginalization, Hegemony, Appropriation
Chair and Publisher: Mandira Sen, Director, Sage-Stree Samya
Writer: Kalyani Thakur Charal, Writer, Publisher and Activist
Translator: Jayati Gupta, Professor of English (Retired), Tagore Fellow at National Library
11.00-11.30 Tea and Coffee
11.30-13.00 Panel 4: Bangla Dalit Literature II - Perceptions of the Dalit in Bengal: An ideology of
Class or Caste?
Chair and Translator: Sipra Mukherjee, Professor, West Bengal State University
Publisher: Ananta Acharya, Director, Democratic Action Forum of Dalits, Women and Minorities
Writer: Manoranjan Byapari, Winner of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Award
13.00-14.00 Buffet Lunch
14.00-15.30 Panel 5: The Role of Academia in the Publishing of Dalit and Adivasi Literature and Art
Chairs and academics: Raj Kumar and Tapan Basu
Publisher: S. Anand
Artists: Aparajita Ninan, Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam
15.30-16.00 Tea and Coffee
16.00-17.30 Individual Papers 3: Caste, Visual Cultures and Mass Media
Chair: Judith Misrahi-Barak
Munira Salim, Lecturer and Head of the Department of English, Stewart Science College, Cuttack,
Odisha, India; and Asis De, Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English Language and
Literature, Mahishadal Raj College, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India
‘DALIT’ may be read as ‘Digitally Advanced LITerature’
Devika Mehra, Ph. D Scholar, Jamia Millia University, Delhi, India; and Ruchika Bhatia, Assistant
Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi
Emergent Dalit Literature in the Graphic Form: Intervention in ‘Mainstream’ Literary Space or a
Strategic Publishing Manoeuver
Vinod Verma, Associate Professor, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Dalit Resistance to Caste: Publishing the Orally Publicised in The Age of Mass Media and New
Media
20.00 Conference Dinner
Saturday 19 December
9.00-9.30 Registration
9.30-11.00 Panel 6: Dalit Literature from South India: Language, Translation and Dissemination
Chair and academic: K. Satyanarayana
Writers: Satish Chandar (Telugu), Cho Dharman (Tamil)
Translator: S R Ramakrishna (Bangalore)
Publisher: a Harper Collins representative
11.00-11.30 Tea and Coffee
11.30-13.00 Panel 7: Publishing Dalit literature for the National and / or the Global Markets
Chair and academic: Nicole Thiara
Editors and Academics: Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak
Publishers: Aakash Chakrabarty and Rimina Mohapatra (Routledge representatives)
Academics and Translators: Raj Kumar and Sipra Mukherjee
13.00-13.30 Concluding Remarks and Looking Ahead
13.30-14.30 Buffet Lunch